1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to clip devices, and more particularly, to the design and construction of clips for holding articles in racks for sale or display.
2. Prior Art
A number of clips have been disclosed in the prior art, including some for arranging clips in racks and for displaying or selling packaged food articles. Clips for displaying or selling packaged food articles should be durable, retain their shape and position, be easy to use by consumers and retailers, and be economical to manufacture. Although various prior art devices meet some of these requirements, no prior design fully meets all of them.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,346 to Young, Jr., shows an S-shaped steel clip which fits into a hollow support tube. The major disadvantage of this device is that it is designed to be made from steel. This results in a spring that will fatigue, bend, and ultimately break, such problems also being caused by the stresses of a tight S-shape. It is also more expensive than a plastic clip. This design is not readily adaptable for construction with plastic materials. A further structural disadvantage of the Young clip is that it can slip out of the support tube laterally when forces are applied in the wrong directions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,532,021 to Gunderson shows a prior art spring clip which solves, to a certain extent, the tendency of clips to fall out of or turn in the support stand. However, the design of this clip is such that it is subject to fatigue, bending, and breaking about its center section.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,052 to Borisof shows several designs for plastic clips. One design has a "push button" release action. However, the point of rotation of the clip, when opened, is fixed with respect to the base. This results in a high tendency to fatigue and break at the point of rotation.
Thus, each of the prior art devices have some or all of the following disadvantages: they are more expensive to make, of such a design that they are subject to fatiguing, bending, breaking, or coming loose, lack a "push button" release, or lack a means of securely holding an article in place beyond the use of spring tension.